The small Central restaurant helmed by the former executive chef of Petrus presents his heritage with thoughtfulness and flair
“Who doesn’t risk, doesn’t win,” a then-28-year-old Ricardo Chaneton told us, when he had first joined the team at Petrus in the Island Shangri-La hotel in 2016. The Italian-Venezuelan chef would spend the best part of four years toiling in the classic French restaurant, bringing a freshness and lightness to the old worldliness of the gilded dining room with his cuisine, one that was always immaculate in presentation and execution but never dull. We never quite understood how, given Chaneton’s pedigree (a stint at Spain’s Quique Dacosta, followed by seven years at Mirazur under powerhouse Mauro Colagreco) and technically brilliant cooking, the restaurant was snubbed by Michelin inspectors year after year. Until the end of 2019, when the team was finally rewarded with a star.
By that time, Chaneton had already hung up his apron at Petrus, embarking on his next adventure—taking a risk, one could say, by leaving the comfortable environs of a sturdy hotel group to launch a new venture, albeit with JIA, the award-winning hospitality group by Yenn Wong.
Is something considered risky if it ends up feeling more like a homecoming, or even destiny? Chaneton, surrounded by faded vinyls passed down by his music-loving father and tactile, handcrafted crockery, is the very definition of relaxed both times we’ve dined at Mono. The restaurant, which was designed by Wong’s husband Alan Lo, was done up in a way to encapsulate the feeling of a chic yet approachable home; a large chef’s counter mimics a kitchen island around which house guests might linger, chatting to the host, and a system of sliding walls out back means rooms can be configured to best suit groups both large and small. The ambience is warm, setting the stage for Chaneton’s multi-course feast—a mixture of influences coming together to present a meal that eschews many of the tired fine dining tropes we have become accustomed to in Hong Kong. Caviar, sea urchin and black truffle are still used, though in small amounts—but the most interesting dishes on the menu we found were those that made use of ingredients like Romanesco and garum, or the complex Latin American-style mole that is completed in front of you in a show of toasted spices.